Thursday, September 4, 2014

RECORD REVIEW: Tape Waves “Let You Go” (Bleeding Gold Records)

Last
year, Tape Waves released a self-titled EP which oddly enough was released as a
cassette (It also had release as a CD and limited 7”) I always thought it was appropriate for Tape
Waves to be released on cassette because of their name, so I never really gave
much thought to their music being released on any other formats. The idea of a full length album by them
though wasn’t a matter of, “Will it be on cassette?” so much as “I want it
however I can get it”. I would have
bought a phonograph if I had to so I could listen to this one.

Almost
a year ago now, I did an interview with Tape Waves, which was featured on the
site, and I remember it most because I had asked some dumb question about
whatever happened to the band Not Waving But Drowning and they pointed me to a
link about how that particular band broke up years ago. But to
me, Tape Waves doesn’t represent music in a genre so much as they represent a
time in my life when a number of new bands were being presented to me and I
fell in love with them all simultaneously.
Without naming too many names, Tape Waves will always be part of what I
like to think of as the “Class of 2013” here at Raised by Gypsies, which goes alongside
Savage Sister and Let’s be Loveless.

The
whispy vocals of the songs bring out the best qualities of dream pop. It’s as if Fleetwood Mac, Blondie and Cyndi
Lauper all combined efforts to find that one special sound and create that one
unique album that could define a generation.
Simply put, these are perfectly
crafted songs of pure bliss. This record
needs to be heard and regardless of how I might feel about vinyl on the whole,
this is undoubtedly one of my favorites not just of 2014 but ever.